Heart of Gold
by BookwormFangirl3712
Summary: Sasha Brooke has enough problems on her plate. Along with trying to find middle ground for her and Nico, the boy she just can't seem to stay away from, she's also said to bring the ruin of this world, along with her own death. Now they must find a weapon powerful enough to oppose the Son of Kronos and try to turn back the hands of fate. Sequel to 'the Ocean's Daughter'.
1. Chapter 1

"...If you get stopped by a monster, don't panic, just remember what you were trained to do. If you get hurt, don't panic and lose your head. It's easy to do. You just have to remember you have supplies in your pack and..." Percy continued to trail off, giving endless advice as to how Sasha should and should not behave on her quest.  
His younger sister sighed and turned to glare at him. "Sheesh, Perce. You sound like a paranoid granny." Percy rolled his eyes, continuing to pack things in the orange backpack from the Camp store with supplies. Sasha fell onto her bed, feeling exhaustion kick in. She hadn't been able to sleep for the past weeks since that idiot Charbel seemed to be very skilled at haunting people in their sleep. Charbel was the only known human son of Kronos ever in history, by the way, and he loved making Sasha's life, and the lives of all the other demigods, a living because of him, and the prophecies, Sasha was a mess. Sometimes Charbel didn't even need to butt in for her to wake up sweating and panting; sometimes just the fear of how the prophecies would turn out did that to her all on their own. Hmm, let's recite them again, just to jogg our memories a bit, shall we?  
Prophecy one:

_'The time lord's son, conceived of a half-blood,  
And the son of the white horse; a battle for blood.  
The sun and the moon, joined together to free  
The one lost in time, the demigod of the sea.  
The princess of ocean, at the volcanoes' wake,  
the end of the world she'll solely make.  
Her choice to determine the fate of the west,  
And she, in the end, death shall possess.'_

Now let's analyse it a bit. Okay, so a bunch of minor details (minor meaning they won't bring the end of world) then in the last lines BOOM. Sasha's destined to bring the defeat of the world, as well as her own death. Now picture yourself in that position for a second, and imagine what Sasha's feeling about everything.  
But wait, there's more.  
Prophecy two:  
_  
'Dispose of the time child with a heart of gold.  
The uniquely crafted ornament, of no use without he;  
In the Jewel  
of the Middle East.  
To find the Albus aurum Clepsydra,  
In his fatalist moments  
all wrongs are correct;  
Children of Hell, Ocean, Witchcraft, and brains,  
Your match may have been met.'  
_  
So, as said in the prophecy, a child of Hades, Poseidon, Hecate, and Athena all have to travel to Lebanon (which, with research, was concluded to be 'Jewel of the Middle East') to find a weapon that could be used to defeat Kronos and his son and keep them from overthrowing the world.  
Maybe.  
And as if all this wasn't enough, she _also _has to deal with the typical teenage-girl drama, otherwise known as Nico Di Angelo. Except this isnt your everyday 'omg my boyfriend was hitting on another girl', 'omg she's trying to steal my man' crap. She has to deal with the fact that the guy she likes is also into her and that if it weren't for this stupid prophecy hanging above her head then there wouldn't be a problem. It leaves a bitter taste in a girl's mouth.  
_knock knock knock knock._ "Sasha, you gonna open up? Arya says we need to discuss 'strategy'. I say we just wing it, but she said to come get you."  
Speaking of bitter tastes…  
"Yeah Nico, come on in, I'm just finishing packing up her stuff." Percy answered, and the door opened.  
Nico Di Angelo was the son of Hades with shaggy black hair, onyx eyes, and olive skin that had paled a bit from all his time in the Underworld. He was dressed in his usual black shirt with a skull and crossbones, black jeans, gray converse, and bearing the ever-constant silver skull ring on his index finger. Sasha and Nico met at school, where Nico was an agent for camp sent to recruit Sasha and Ryan. Over the past few months, they'd gotten to know each other pretty well. Er, ah, quite a bit more than pretty well. It's complicated.  
Nico nodded hello to Percy and turned to Sasha, smiling faintly. It was Sasha's descision that they stay just friends, and although he wasn't pleased, he didn't really have any other choice but to go along with it. Yet, every time Sasha saw him she couldn't stop the beat her heart skipped and the _want_ to just kiss him right then and there. It'd gotten easier recently, since they'd had no choice but to be with each other constantly training, but it still hurt to see him and know that soon she'd probably be dead and never see him again.  
"Sash go on ahead, I'll finish packing this up and get everything ready." Percy said, and Sasha sighed, standing up from the bed. She walked out the door and Nico followed behind, closing the door after them.  
"I don't get what we have to discuss that can't wait until tomorrow. It's not as if we're going to be attacked from the moment we leave camp up until we land in Beirut, and knowing Arya, we'll be 'discussing' strategy all night." Sasha complained, and Nico grinned, his teeth glowing in the dark.  
"If you're looking for an argument, you won't get on from me," Nico said, "although, she is a better friend than Andrea."  
Sasha looked down. "Andrea was a good friend to me. It wasn't her fault I turned out to be some hybrid freak that would end up destroying the world at the young age of 16."  
"Yeah, sure, great friend. Hey, I wonder, if she were here and knew everything that was going on in your life, she would totally support you, wouldn't she?"

"…Well…"

"Didn't think so," Nico shrugged, "Look, I don't mean to be so blunt about it, but you know she didn't have your best intrests at heart…"  
Sasha shook her head. As if _he_ were in some authoritative position to talk! "Whatever, I don't feel like talking about it."  
They'd arrived at the Hecate cabin, and Nico held the door open for Sasha as they stepped in. The walls of the Hecate cabin were a bizzare mix of clashing colors, dancing and moving on the wall like a lava lamp. The lights were illumitated orbs floating around the ceiling and the beds floated a few feet above the ground. Sasha stood there blinking a bit for a second, allowing her eyes to adjust. Hecate's children were scattered around, showing each other weird tricks and talking and goofing around. Nico led her over to a door on the opposite side of the cabin to a door. He pressed a button on the side that buzzed, before Orlando's voice answered.

"Nico?"  
"Yeah, it's me man. Hook the door up."  
The speaker buzzed again as the connection ended, and Nico opened the door, leading Sasha out onto a balcony over the New York City skyline. Arya and Orlando were seated at a metal table, several papers and maps scattered around. Arya looked up.  
"Oh good, you're here."  
"How are we.." Sasha looked around, awe-struck.  
"It's a magic door." Arya answered, not really paying attention, and Sasha rolled her eyes.  
"I can see that." She said, taking a seat, Nico following suit.  
"So, what needs to be discussed so urgently that I'm not going to get any sleep tonight?"  
"We need to start thinking of places to look for the Albus Aurum Clepsydra. I've been doing research, unlike the rest of you slackers, and I've decided that we should start by searching some of the Ancient Roman ruins. You see, at a time, Lebanon was under the order of the Roman Empire. Actually, this was around the same time that prophecy about Charbel was spoken and the Clepsydra was created. Lebanon's the Jewel of the Middle East, er, at least, that's what it used to be called, so we should start looking in the locations that were tied to the Roman civilization." Arya explained, and Sasha nodded.  
"Then whats the problem?"  
"The problem is that many of the exhibits now days are off limits to visitors, probably because they contain special artifacts demigods like us would die to get our hands on." Nico said, and Sasha crossed her arms, leaning back in her chair.  
"Then we get jobs as tour guides or something."  
Arya inhaled deeply. "We can't get jobs as workers at every sight. It'd take too much time, and ironically enough, _time _is the exact thing we are lacking."  
"Then what do you think we should do?" Nico asked, and Arya rolled her eyes.  
"What do you think we are trying to figure out?"  
Nico held his hands up in surrender, and Orlando smirked.  
"Okay, here's an idea: Orlando, you said you've been working on teleportation, right?" Arya asked her boyfriend, and he shook his head.  
"I have been, but not for long. I'm still not all too good at it."  
"Ugh! This is turning out so much harder than I thought."  
"Hello? I can shadow travel? You people forgetting that?" Nico said sarcastically, raising a finger. Arya sighed.  
"Oh, right. Okay then, Orlando and Nico will be responsible of helping us travel in and out of out of bounds areas."  
"Genius." Nico muttered, so only Sasha could hear. She rolled her eyes. Arya wasn't _meaning_ to be so clueless. From the half asleep look in her eyes and the pronounced bags under her eyes, Sasha assumed the Daughter of Athena had been getting less sleep than even she had.  
Orlando laughed. "Arya, you've double checked, triple checked, and quadruple checked everything. You and Sasha missed dinner earlier, too. Go eat something and relax before we leave tomorrow." He said, smiling at Arya, and she turned to Sasha.  
"You didn't eat anything tonight?"  
Sasha laughed bitterly. "I haven't eaten for the past week."  
Arya seemed to be thinking it over, and she didn't seem to keen on the idea. "Fine." She said begrudgingly as she began to stand up.

"Don't touch anything while I'm gone." She snapped, shoving all the papers into one stack and putting them in a file, glaring at the boys. Orlando chuckled and Nico suppressed a smile. "Yes Arya, because we are going to totally ruin everything on the night before the quest."  
Arya rolled her eyes. "Knowing you two, it's not too unlikely."  
Arya smiled lightly to Orlando before raising an eyebrow warily to Nico and turning to leave the little terrace. She opened the door and walked out, Sasha following behind her. On the other side of the door, they had re-entered Hecate's cabin and made their way across it before leaving the Goddess of Magic's cabin altogether.  
Arya led the way to the dining pavilion, Sasha kind of trailing behind her awkwardly. She found everything that had to do with contact with others awkward lately. Is that weird?  
"So, you ready for tomorrow?" Arya asked, and Sasha was jolted out of her thoughts.  
"Huh? Oh...not really. Well, I mean, I'm just afraid we're all going to get blasted out of the sky. It's really kind of irrational, me and Nico travelling by air." She said. Of course it was irrational. It was suicidal. Especially if he knew about the prophecies harboring Sasha's future, along with everyone else's. Arya sighed in exasperation.  
"I _know,_" she started, stepping up onto the pavilion floor and making her way to the kitchens across, "but I wasn't really given much of a choice in the matter—Apparently we need to be as 'inconspicuous' as we can _while _we can, but I don't really understand why." She sighed. "I don't know, I guess I just wish that I didn't have to follow anyone else's orders on this matter; my nerves are completely out of whack because I'm fretting about everything that could go wrong."  
Sasha smirked. "But if it were all up to you your planning and calculations would surely be foolproof?"  
"Of course!"  
The daughter of Poseidon rolled her eyes as they made their way to the stash of food always left over by the harpies after each meal. The 'kitchen' wasn't actually a kitchen with stoves and ovens and such; since every meal fed at camp was prepared magically, there was no need for such items. It was mostly used as a store room for leftovers. People always skipped out on meals for whatever reason, but sooner or later needed to eat, and that's what the leftovers and the 'kitchen' were for. Sasha cut herself a piece of lasagna while Andrea spooned some pasta into her own plate. They ate in silence, neither girl having anything to say to the other that would actually continue a conversation. Once finished, they placed their dishes back into the little side room and said goodnight, reassuring one another that the next day everything would work out fine.  
They were wrong, of course.


	2. Chapter 2

The next day they were to be off to London, their midpoint destination between New York and Beirut. Of course, they were going to be stuck in London for extra layover, but during that time they could all try and catch up on their sleep. And no matter how much time they lacked to complete the quest, Chiron insisted trying to blend in with the mortals as much as possible.

Sasha slept in as much as possible, for the first time in weeks.

Until Percy shook her awake.

"Up Sasha, _up." _

Sasha shrugged away from her brother's grip, pulling the bedcovers up above her head, only to have her brother tediously yank them away.

"Come on Sasha, you're the one who wanted to do this so badly," he said mockingly, and Sasha exhaled, exasperated, and sat up. Percy's eyes narrowed, and he shrugged, walking over to where his younger sister's bags were packed and began rechecking everything for the hundredth time. Oddly enough, Sasha didn't think it'd be the last time. She swung her legs over the side of the bed and stood, walking over to her brother and moving his hands away from her bags, zipping them shut.

"Percy, you're obsessing."

"I'm ADHD, did you expect any less?"

Sasha muttered snarky remarks under her breath to Percy as she grabbed a pillow from her bunk and tossed it across the room to her twin brother.

"Shndt yuf awlredy weft fay nuw?"

Sasha's eyes narrowed. After years of living with Ryan, she'd learned to speak his weird morning language.

"I'm gonna miss you too," was her retort.

After washing her face, brushing her hair and changing, she and Percy made their way out of the cabin with Sasha's luggage. The demigods had had to pack lightly, so she was taking only a backpack from the camp store and a small rolling suitcase. The siblings met with Arya, Annabeth, Orlando, and Nico at Thalia'a tree, just at the borders of camp. Off to the side, sleeping with his enormous body curling around the tree and serving as a guard of the Golden Fleece was Peleus. As he exhaled, sparks flew into the crisp morning air.

Arya and Annabeth went around, frantically finalizing everything. Chiron ascended the hill and watched, eyebrows raised, as the rest of the drowsy demigods' patience grew thin. Finally Nico, who seemed even more on-edge than usual, three his hands up in the air and shouldered his backpack, starting down the hill. Arya snapped at him that at least _she_ was smart enough to do things properly, but Nico ignored her and climbed into the car at the bottom of the hill. A few minutes later, the two daughters of Athena seemed pleased with everything, and Orlando made his way down the hill to the car below. Arya, after saying goodbye and thank you to her sister and Chiron, followed suit. Sasha was the only one to linger behind. She turned to look at her brother's eyebrows, furrowed with worry, and smirked.

"I'll try not to get myself into_ too much_ trouble–"

"–that makes me feel so much better, thanks for the reassurance," he snapped bitterly, and Sasha smiled.

"Thanks, Percy."

He eyed her doubtfully and gasped in mock horror.

"Sasha actually thanking someone? There's something seriously wrong with you. I'm not sure you can go in such an unstable state of mind."

Sasha rolled her eyes and took a step backwards, away from her brother.  
"Excuse me, but I have manners. Just because I don't use them with you doesn't mean —,"

"Sasha! We're gonna be late because of you!" Arya yelled from the base of the hill, and Sasha turned to look at her best friend over her shoulder, rolling her eyes. She faced her brother again.

"Chill, Perce. It's not the end of the world."

He opened his mouth to say something, then closed it. They both knew it very well may be the end of the world, but better not to dwell on that too much. Sasha turned to address Chiron.

"Who's driving the car?"

"My mom." Percy responded, and Sasha raised an eyebrow. Percy held her gaze almost daring her to protest. Sasha shook her head and Annabeth rolled her eyes.

"Children of Poseidon. I'll never understand them."

Sasha went to hug Percy before running down the hill after the others. She hopped into the back seat with Nico on her left, and turned to look out the window at the trio on top of the hill. She watched them as the car drive away, and she watched until the demigods and their trainer were nothing more than little spots, before they disappeared completely.  
Percy's mom and Arya were having a conversation about flights and terminal and what the demigods were going to try to accomplish on their quest, and Mrs. Jackson kept looking at Sasha through the mirror, smiling sweetly. Sasha shifted uncomfortably. She knew Percy's mom meant well, but it was just…weird. Her brother's mom, but not _her own _mom. Sasha felt sick.  
"Uhm, it's nice to meet you, Mrs. Jackson." She managed to say, and the woman smiled.  
"You too dear, and it's okay to call me Sally. Percy told me about you and your brother."  
Okay, now what was Sasha supposed to say? Her cheeks reddened and she nodded, turning to look out the window. Nico and Orlando smirked, and the son of Hades slid Sasha a paper.  
_'Brace yourself, you're about to get smothered.'_  
"So, Sasha, how has camp been for you so far?"  
"Uh..it's good. I'm still trying to adjust to everything.."  
"I'm sure it's difficult. Have you seen your mom ever since you arrived at camp?"  
Sasha bit her lip. Of course she'd have to ask_ that_.  
"Recently….my brother and I tried to contact her. She, uhm..well, she didn't respond well to the Iris message. She kinda freaked at the sight of us."  
It was true. A few weeks ago, after officially deciding to take on a quest, Sasha had Ryan help her send an IM to their mom. She'd been in the middle of the courtroom, arguing with someone and doing what she did best—persuading people to believe everything she said. Sasha had gone with her mother to work before; she'd been required to stay absolutely silent in a huge courtroom for two and a half hours when she was ten. She knew how her mom liked to work: with nothing unexpected diverting her plans from their goal, no surprises.  
So you can just imagine the displeasure her mother's face portrayed when a rainbow of mist appeared in the middle of the courtroom, interrupting the case she'd been arguing in.  
Yeah…they hadn't tried contacting her again.  
"Oh, dear, you know she was probably just shocked."  
_'Psh, that's an understatement.'_ Sasha knew her mom would get over it, but it would be a long time before she checked again. She cleared her throat.  
"Yeah, I know…" She felt so small. Not that Sally was intimidating in a vicious sort of way…..but intimidating in a _smothering mother _sort of way. Sasha'd never had to deal with that growing up, and she had no idea how to handle the situation. She slumped down in her seat.  
"Have you been attending school ever since you've arrived at camp?"  
"Erm, no..not really…"  
Sally looked disappointed. "You should really try to stay on top of your schoolwork, Sasha. It's very important."  
'_How does Percy deal with this woman?'_  
The conversation continued on how although demigods have to train and survive they also should receive an education. Nico's face was buried in his hands and his shoulders shook with laughter. Orlando was chuckling quietly to the window, and Arya was agreeing with everything Sally said. Finally, Percy's mom told Sasha:  
"If you'd like, you can come live with us during the school years and attend the same school as Percy."  
Nico and Orlando couldn't take it. They burst into laughter, and Sasha smiled weakly, slumping in her seat and burying her face in her hands.

-  
The JFK airport in New York was complete, utter chaos. And it wasn't even around the time of a holiday. Sasha feared of what the airport would be like if it _was _around the time of a holiday when they were traveling. She'd already lost the others twice, and she barely had enough room to breathe. Finally, they had made their way past the several security checkpoints and boarded their plane. Sasha took the seat as far away from the window as possible, sure that if she did, her queasy feelings would magnify most undesirably. Arya sat next to the window with Orlando next to her, and an elderly woman to the demigod's left. Nico's and Sasha's seats were next to one another, and another boy sat on Sasha's other side. He had the strangest shade of eyes; dark blue, almost a navy color. His hair was dirty blonde, and atop it sat a flat-brimmed hat with Big Bird on it. He smiled at Sasha, who smirked up at his hat.  
"Cookie monster is better." She said, and he laughed.  
"I have to say I disagree." His voice had a strong British accent. Sasha's eyes widened and she quickly averted her gaze, feeling her cheeks heat up.

_Bing _ "Welcome aboard British Airlines flight 283 from the JFK airport in New York to Heathrow Airport in London, this is your pilot speaking; the local time is 11:23 a.m., estimated travel time seven hours forty five minutes, approximated arrival 6:15 p.m. We hope you enjoy flying with us today." _Bing  
_  
Sasha closed her eyes. She'd only travelled by plane once before: with her mom and her brother when she was three. They'd gone to Hawaii. Of course, Sasha couldn't rememeber a thing, and she couldn't help but fear being on a plane now. This was….foregin territory. People weren't meant to fly. If they were, they'd be born with wings and look like those weird chicken-things in Legend of Zelda that Leo had shown her once. Her hands tightened on the armrests. She turned and cracked her eyes open to see Nico reacting in much the same manner as she.  
"Nico…?"  
His eyes snapped to her. "This is stupid. This is _really stupid_. Mark my words, something's going to go wrong. Chiron has more sense than to put the two of us on a plane together…"  
The boy on Sasha's other side chuckled. "First time fliers? Turbulence is hard, yeah, but it gets easier when you're up in the air."  
Nico grit his teeth. "I doubt that will be the case."  
Sasha sighed. She was not looking forward to the next eight hours.

* * *

A.N.: Yes, the action hasn't started yet. I'm sorry. Actually, there might just be a bit more trouble in the romance department of Sasha's life before the quest really takes off...;) Sorry about the wait, too. I've been falling behind in my studies at school and I was struggling to catch up. In a few weeks I have finals, too, so don't expect updates until after they're over and done with :( (Which is pretty depressing for me, because I am totally in the mood to write non-stop) Also, when Ryan says "Shndt yuf awlredy weft fay nuw?", I realize that not all of you have lived with him for years and that you might not be able to understand his weird-ness like his sister. He's saying 'Shouldn't you've already left by now?' Ah, the consideration.  
Oh, and about my reference to Legend of Zelda...I've only played the game a few times with a friend of mine and I forgot what those things are called, the half-human half-bird things? I only remember what they look like because my friend once drew herself as one...:3 If you know the name of them, please tell me, because it's driving me crazy that I can't remember. Anyways, Enjoy! (P.s.: I love hearing from you guys! Pretty pretty pleaseee review review review!) :)


	3. Chapter 3

"Hey, would you look at that. Zeus actually didn't shoot us down," Arya said, smiling out the window. She turned to grin at Sasha.  
"And you were worried this whole time for nothing."  
At some point in the flight, Nico and Arya had switched places so that Arya could be next to Sasha. Now they were landing in London, several hours later, and Sasha couldn't remember a time when she had felt so relieved. Nico, Orlando, and Arya had all tried to encourage Sasha to sleep, but no matter how hard she tried to relax, she couldn't nod off. She didn't feel safe enough, and she was anxious to once again be on the ground.  
"We are _not_," She snapped, "taking the next flight to Lebanon. Screw blending in."  
Arya laughed. "Well, considering that we weren't shot out of the sky now…"  
Nico turned back to glare at Arya from his seat. "No, Arya."  
The daughter of Athena rolled her eyes. Nico was a force to be reckoned with; he'd been nearly as restless as Sasha for the past several hours.  
The boy sitting next to her shot Sasha a crooked grin. They'd made polite small talk throughout the flight, and he had teased her about her fear of planes. He didn't seem that bad, but Sasha didn't feel like getting involved with any more mortals. Like, possibly ever again. The intercom dinged and announced that they had landed, thanked them for choosing their airlines, and wished them a good day. Sasha had to restrain herself from shoving everyone out of her way and bolting out the door of the airplane. The line moved groggily, and she found the slow progress unbearable after such a long trip. Arya laughed at her, and once they were outside of the plane the boy who'd been sitting next to Sasha turned to say bye, before his eyes rested on Orlando. His expression contorted into one of disbelief. Orlando, too, seemed shocked.  
"Matt?"  
"Oh my God, Orlando, it's been so long!"  
The two became engrossed in a conversation, leaving Arya, Sasha, and Nico all standing to the side awkwardly unaware of what was going on.  
"Uhm," Arya interrupted. Arya didn't really like being out of the loop. Neither did Annabeth. It must be a trait they'd inherited from Athena. "How do you guys know each other?"  
Orlando turned to her and grinned.  
"I didn't always live in the States."  
Arya shot him a look. "I _know _that."  
"Orlando," Matt interrupted, "was my best friend in middle school. He moved a couple years back without even a bloody email as goodbye. He'd practically managed to disappear off the face of the Earth."  
The four demigods looked at one another. That happened a lot. Once you were discovered by monsters, you couldn't really live that normally anymore, especially when you lived a whole eight hour plane flight away from camp, the only safe haven for half-bloods.  
"Yeah, we had a lot going on back then." Orlando said, rubbing the back of his head with his hand.  
"So how long are you guys going to be staying in London? Why don't you come stay at my place?" Matt offered, and Nico stiffened. "No, that won't really be—"  
"That'd be great! If it's not too much trouble, that is. We'll only be around for a day." Arya said, grinning smugly at Sasha, as if telling her _'See? Everything works out perfectly.'_  
"No, it's no problem at all," he said, and he grinned at Sasha, an adorable twinkle in his eyes. She shot him a quick smile in response before turning away, her cheeks burning. She resisted the sudden urge to bite her lip as she could feel his gaze on her. Nico made a face and stormed off towards the luggage belt. It was weird, though. They hadn't checked any of their baggage in. Arya glanced from Nico's rapidly disappearing figure to Sasha, her face a mask of calculating disapproval. She shrugged and turned back to Matt.  
"It's a bit odd; you two didn't recognize each other on the plane." She noted, and Orlando shrugged.  
"I didn't really see his face," he said, and Matt nodded.  
"I heard you call him Orlando, but it's not too uncommon a name, so I didn't know who it was exactly."  
Arya nodded and smiled. Suddenly, there was a loud boom from around the area where Nico had disappeared. That sound didn't belong in an airport; it immediately registered as the sound of a bomb or some other sort of explosion. Many of the mortals around looked shocked and confused, including Matt. Arya and Orlando turned to one another frantically as Sasha wasted no time bolting towards the noise, her hand flying to her neck and her sword materializing instantaneously. She gripped the hilt and ignored the incredulous stares from the mortals—they probably couldn't see it for it really was, anyways—and searched for Nico. She found him, eventually, battling a…lion? What idiots let a lion loose in an airport? But as Sasha approached, she realized it wasn't simply _any _overgrown cat. This one, she could see, had the tail of a scorpion. Yupp, definitely some vicious Greek hybrid. The monster would lash a law out for Nico to dodge, and while he was occupied, the monster would strike its tail, Nico barely missing the fatal blows. However, Nico still ruthlessly battled the monster, but, to Sasha's shock, he seemed to be….._afraid_. Sasha didn't usually associate fear with the Son of Hades. Not when he'd fought for her and her brother in the movie theater, not when she'd been attacked by the hellhound. Not even on the plane was he truly _scared_, just jittery and anxious to be back in friendly territory. But no, _this_, this was fear. Sasha knew it from his eyes. Without a second thought (or any thoughts, at that,) she threw herself into the battle, attacking the monster with a ferocious energy. She first lunged at that horrible tail; if she could damage it, cut it off even, that would tip the scales to their advantage, as the monster was using it as an (unfair) reinforcement against Nico. She struck at the tail, creating a gash that began to ooze an odd green substance that smelled like burning gasoline and stung her nose and eyes. She gagged and blinked several times, turning back to the monster and ducking, eyes wide, the stinger just managing to cut into her back. She hissed in pain, the cut burning. She turned back up to glare at the monster, dodging a few more blows from the stinger before she managed to stab her sword up to the hilt into the monster's tail. The creature emit an awful roar of agony and outrage, whipping its tail around in a frenzy. Sasha managed to grip the hilt of her sword as it bobbed around on the monster's tail and tried to pull her sword free, but it held fast. She lost her grip on the sword as the creature roared and hastily grabbed for it again. Panicked, she yanked again, with more force, but the sword wouldn't budge. She glanced to Nico, but he was too preoccupied battling with the monster's front half to help. She grabbed for her sword again, struggling to get a good grip on it as the tail whipped around. Her body being jerked along with the sword, her teeth clacking, she pulled another time, her sword sliding out of the creature's tail and flying out of her hands to skid several feet off to her right and out of her reach.  
_'Perfect,'_ She thought bitterly before she felt a pain in her side as she was thrown forward like a rag doll. Her teeth ground together painfully from the force of the blow and Sasha was hit with a feeling much like whiplash before slamming into the ground. She glanced around helplessly, her eyes fuzzy. There was a horrible pounding in her ears, blocking out all other noises. Shakily, she stood and she suddenly felt all the blood rushing to her head. Her eyesight was horrible and she couldn't see anything properly, but she still searched for her fallen sword. She found it, even farther from her now than it had been before. By this time, Arya and Orlando had gone to assist Nico, and Matt seemed to be on the phone with the police. _'Idiot!'_ She thought, but she immediately felt guilty after. It wasn't his fault he was a mortal and the first thing humans thought of doing when they were in danger was calling the police. She hastily made her way to her sword, grabbing it and running back to the fight after the groggy feeling subsided. She became more wary of the monster's tail (which had shockingly already managed to heal itself, leaving a bitter taste in Sasha's mouth). Orlando had somehow managed to mount the lion and was riding it as if were a horse, stabbing it every chance he got. The stupid thing just _didn't seem to die._ There were several water fountains off to her side, but Sasha didn't see the point in summoning any water; she was sure there wasn't much she would be able to do with it, given her current location and situation, and she was sure that a giant tsunami from hell (and plumbing) would do nothing but throw the humans into even more havoc than they were already in. However, she really hoped Nico would open a direct path to Tartarus for their little friend already. She'd seen him do it before and it was the best way to get this monster gone and get the Tartarus out of there, but he didn't seem to think so. Or he just didn't think of the idea at all.  
Then the freaking thing sprouted wings.  
One second it was there and they were all battling it, the next it was gone, looming twenty feet above their heads and glaring down at them mockingly.  
"What's wrong demigods? Not so tough _now_, are you?" Sasha thought she'd only imagined it at first before Nico yelled a stream of curses in response. Then she realized it actually had spoken. And, oh yeah, Nico was pissed. Orlando seemed to be clinging onto the back of the creature for dear life. He'd abandoned stabbing his steed; if the monster fell and died, Orlando would probably suffer from some sort of injury, too. Arya exclaimed in outrage as she flung a back-up celestial bronze knife up towards the monster like a javelin. It imbedded itself in one of the creature's wings, causing the monster to bellow in agony. Sasha glanced around to see the police had arrived, and she saw them pointing their guns at the monster, surrounding the demigods and monster in a wide circle. She snorted. '_Lot of help _that's _going to do_' she thought sarcastically. She looked back at the monster, and above it...  
An idea formulated in her mind suddenly. A crazy, risky idea, but an idea nonetheless.  
"Nico!" She yelled, and he turned to look at her for a moment.  
"Tell Orlando to jump!"  
He looked at her like she was another monster.  
"Are you crazy?!"  
"Trust me!" She answered, pointing to the water fountains to Nico's left and turning away before he could reply. She allowed her sword to quickly transform back into her necklace as she ran towards the nearest police officer, trying her best to look horrified and innocent. Sasha didn't deem herself that great an actress, but they bought her innocent act, which was pretty good. They ushered her behind the defensive wall they'd formed. Now she had to wait for Orlando to fall. She concentrated on the fountains, visualizing every possible way for the pipes to explode behind her closed eyelids. She cracked her eyes open to see Orlando arguing with Nico. He seemed against the idea of jumping. _'Come on Orlando, I can't keep focus like this for that long!'_ She could feel the power she held over the water behind the walls, and she could feel the energy she was exerting dripping away slowly from just containing it. Arya hollered something up at Orlando and he begrudgingly allowed himself to be thrown off the monster's side. For a moment, Sasha's heart stopped as she thought she wasn't going to be able to catch him, but no. A painful tugging sensation started in the pit of her stomach and the fountains exploded, the water forming a direct path to the son of Hecate. She had the water form a tower under him, slowly lowering him to the ground. Arya, of course, didn't waste any valuable time while they had the monster distracted. She pulled out a cross bow from who knows where and released several arrows on the flying cat. Sasha moved so that she was right next to the officer and she suddenly shoved him over, grabbing his gun out of his hand and aiming at the chandelier above the monster before the officer regained his senses. She didn't really know how to work a gun, but she figured it out and shot mercilessly. The chandelier, as expected, fell off its hinges and down to the ground, the monster tumbling down with it. _'Manticore!'_ She thought triumphantly._ 'That's what it's called!'_ She felt a hand wrapped sternly around her arm suddenly and she was pushed down to her knees. She struggled against her restraints, but whoever it was wouldn't budge. She felt cold metal tighten around her wrists and restrain her hands behind her back. "Seriously?!" She exclaimed, astonished. Had they really _not _seen that?! Maybe they hadn't seen it exactly as it was, but they had to see she was on their side, right?  
"Quiet!" Someone behind her barked, and she realized that no, they did not see that. She let out a frustrated yell, pulling hard against the cuffs. Of course, the stupid manticore still wasn't dead; her friends were _still _fighting the thing, and here she was, arrested. She didn't even know if she had managed to be of any help, the monster was still fighting. However, she seemed to have damaged his wings, so that made her feel a little bit better. Nico looked downright livid. He was attacking with a newfound ferocity, jabbing and stabbing and thrusting at every opening he got. And he didn't seem to grow tired, either. Every time Sasha thought he was about to take it down a notch, he pushed on fiercer than before. It was incredible to watch. Arya and Orlando assisted him, of course, Arya sneaking in some lethal blows and Orlando doing his best to attack without getting too close, but anyone could see the rage in Nico's eyes. She wondered if this was not his first encounter with a manticore.  
Arya, who had been battling with one of the manticore's paws, froze midfight and turned away from the monster, speed walking away. She continued to walk away, acting oblivious to what was going on behind her and continuing forward. About two to three yards away from the battle, she turned back to face the manticore and began to sprint forward, building speed. At the last minute, she fell backwards onto the ground and slid under the monster, her blade slicing along the creature's underneath as the passed under him. The manticore's eyes grew wide and dull, and he weakly lashed out a paw one last time before Nico delivered the fatal blow into the lion's neck. The monster fell to the ground, motionless. However, the manticore was insistent on causing the demigods as much trouble as possible, dead or alive. Instead of being a good little monster and turning to golden dust, making everyone's life easier, the stupid thing burst into _Greek fire_. Sasha'd never actually seen the stuff in action before, but she'd learned it was a dangerous substance at camp. The stuff was supposed to be impossible to control, and it was proving this theory to be true. It burned everything, the whole area blazing up in green light.  
Sasha was pulled to her feet aggressively and shoved around, towards the doors. Aggravated, she whirled around and kicked at the officer, avoiding his grab for her and bolting off into the smoke. When she heard Nico yelling her name she immediately switched directions and ran towards the sound of his voice. Half blinded by the smog surrounding her, she ran directly into someone, both she and the other person falling to the ground from the impact.  
"Dammit!" He cursed, and Sasha grinned, recognizing that irascible tone anywhere. She knew that he had stood up and was about to leave, so she spoke up. "You haven't seen a son of Hades anywhere around here, have you?" She couldn't see his grin, but she could hear it in his voice when he answered her. "Idiot. You ditched us."  
She rolled her eyes, even though she knew he couldn't see her and her eyes burned from the soot. "Excuse me for getting handcuffed and taken by the police."  
She felt his hands on her shoulders, helping her up, and she tried not to think about it too much.  
It was hard.  
He released his grip on her once she was standing and there was the sound of metal clashing as her hands were freed. She still had the metal cuffs around her hands like bracelets, but they were no longer binding her hands behind her back. She rubbed her wrists, trying to decrease the pain she felt in them. It kind of scared her, though; his knife that could reap a mortal soul from a body with one cut so close to her skin when he could barely see anyways. He must really have been confident he wasn't going to screw up. She hoped. Nico placed a hand on her back to lead her to the others, but drew his hand away when she yelped in pain.  
"Wha—Sasha, you—you've got a huge cut on your back."  
"I'll be fine," she snapped, gritting her teeth to keep from showing how painful it really was. On top of that, the smoke and ash was doing nothing but making the cut sting even worse. He held her elbow and gently guided her outside the building and discreetly maneuvered her away from the police and firefighters that were crowding the entrances outside. They found Orlando and Arya standing by a dark blue range rover with Matt. The trio seemed to be arguing about something, and Nico scowled, muttering something under his breath. Arya had gauze wrapped around her right arm as well as her left leg. Orlando had a bandage patched on the left side of his forehead, slightly covering his eyebrow. Once they were close enough, Nico turned Sasha around so her back was facing Arya. The daughter of Athena cursed Sasha's recklessness and not too long after Sasha felt the cut blaze up like an inferno. She gasped, flinching away from Nico's hold on her, but his grip had become strong as iron and his hand wouldn't budge. Her eyes began to sting and her eyesight grew fuzzy.  
"It's not my fault you went for the stinger," Arya chided, and Sasha could think of more than a few snarky responses to shoot back at the daughter of Athena. "The poison is spreading and we need to get it out of your system." Sasha yelped as the fire in her back (which had been slowly dissolving) burst to life again.  
"Nico it shouldn't be hurting her this much," Arya said under her breath, making it nearly impossible for Sasha to hear what she had said.  
"Why don't we just take her to a hospital? Let a doctor treat her?"  
"Shut up," Nico snapped.  
"Hey, Matt, why don't we head over to your place? Arya knows the directions, she can take Nico and Sasha later, but I think you and I have a bit of catching up to do." Matt agreed and sent Sasha a weak smile she barely saw through her clouded eyes. Orlando thanked her for what she did earlier and wished her luck, saying that 'with Arya as her medic, she'd need it.' Then the son of Hecate was off with the mortal, leaving Sasha to endure Nico and Arya alone.

* * *

A.N.: OH MY GODS IM DONE I'M FREEE I FINISHED FINALS AND SUMMER OH MY GODS YAY. So yes, I'm ecstatic about that. I finished YESTERDAY, yes, they really kept us until JUNE 29, and today I spent ALL day writing, then rewriting, this chapter. Over and over again. And, I dunno, I guess it's still a3deh (like, 'whatever' or uhm, 'acceptable' in Arabic...actually, I guess it's more like 'normal' when technically translated, but like in informal Lebanese which I speak) it can be used like 'bearable' so yah. Getting off topic) I guess I just pictured this happening differently but I couldn't really write it the way I wanted. It's okay, though...I think.  
Oh, anf this chapter is actually pretty long, so I think that may make up just a teenie bit for the wait. =)  
Also, a GIANT thank you to all my loyal readers who have been keeping up with this fic. I think if it weren't for you guys I would've abandoned this fic a LONG time ago and it would be in the file on my desktop labeled 'unfinished' It's because of you awesome peoples I'm still working on this. You guys are epic. Thank you.  
Review and tell me how you like it :)  
Yours in demigodishness, and all that. Peace out!


	4. Chapter 4

Sasha woke up in a car with her head leaning against Nico's shoulder, one of his arms slung lazily around her. She tried to sit up, her joints cracking. She couldn't feel her back properly; it felt numb and foreign. Other then that, she felt just like normal. Questions swirled through her mind, but she shoved them aside; she didn't really feel like talking. Nico and Arya didn't seem too keen on filling the silence either, and Sasha was sure they were all exhausted and unnerved by what had happened at the airport. There was no way that any monsters should have known they would be arriving there. Sasha had the urge to smirk at Arya and say _'yea, everything worked out _**perfect**_,'_ but she suppressed it. After all, everything _should_ have gone perfectly, and it seemed like a pretty bad omen that they hadn't. She let her head lean back down onto Nico, and he tensed but didn't push her away. Arya's eyes darted at them in the rearview mirror before she quickly averted her eyes and turned her attention back to the road. Eventually the car pulled up at a neighborhood of apartment buildings. Each building was located wall to wall with the next, tall enough to contain several moderately sized apartments. It was dark due to the lack of sunlight outside (it had gotten much later then Sasha had realized), but the streetlights were lit and cast everything in sight in an orange hue.  
The car engine died and Arya turned to Nico and Sasha. "Come on," she said, opening her car door and hopping out. "I think this is the place."  
_"'I think,'" _Nico echoed, "Very reassuring." He leaned across the brunette girl sitting next to him to open her door and help her out. The cool air nipped at their skin, causing Sasha to shudder slightly. They made their way over to one of the apartments, the daughter of Poseidon thankful that she could walk without having to lean on anyone for support, and Arya began to count the apartment numbers.  
"23B….24….25B. This is it. Come on." The brunette daughter of Athena began to climb the stairs, Sasha and Nico following not too far behind.  
Sasha was climbing the last stair when Arya called them over.  
"Guys! Guys, someone's already been here." She said, her voice expressing her worry clearly as it cracked. Sasha walked up to see the door opened slightly, allowing a slim ray of light through, the hinges creaking as the door swung open easily. There were scratch marks on the ground, and green goo forming a path into the apartment. Sasha placed her hand to her neck, wrapping her hand tightly around the sword as it grew, fitting perfectly into her palm like it was made specifically for her. Then again, it probably was. Sasha didn't really know the specifics. Arya grabbed a typical celestial bronze knife from her belt, prepared to strike if anything popped out and attacked. Nico gripped his infamous stygian black sword in his left hand in a defensive stance. Sasha shuddered at the sight of the weapon; stygian iron was a strong, dangerous material. Actually, she believed that only children of Hades could wield weapons forged from the onyx metal. Instead of reflecting light, the sword seemed to absorb it, and the air surrounding the sword was more submerged in the shadows of night than the rest of the area around the demigods. The trio walked into the main room of the apartment, the door slamming shut behind them. The three looked to each other warily before turning their gazes to dart around the room. The sound of breaking glass slicing through the silence made Sasha jump, her head whipping in the direction of the noise as Nico stalked towards what appeared to be a kitchen, Arya following suit and Sasha taking up the rear. They walked into the unlit kitchen, their footsteps echoing against the tile floor. Arya switched the lights on. There were no monsters occupying the small kitchen, but Matt was tied up to a chair, blood trickling down his forehead, and Orlando was strewn across the floor, knocked unconscious. Arya made a noise sounding much like she was being strangled and ran to her boyfriend while Sasha moved to unbind Matt and Nico continued to keep guard for fear that a monster was hidden somewhere out of sight.  
"Matt, what happened?" Sasha asked, her tone stern. Of course, that didn't work. The mortal still babbled jitterish like a baffoon.  
"There was…and her _dog_….only….not a dog, _not a dog_…pink poodle with a bow…and—"  
"Oh give it up, you won't be getting anything useful out of _him_." Nico said to Sasha, and she rolled her eyes, partially due to Matt's unhelpful rambling, and partially due to Nico's ability to annoy.  
"Fine," she said, turning to the son of Hades and handing him the bandages she'd taken out from her pack as she turned to Orlando and Arya. "you deal with him, then." Nico muttered under his breath and carelessly bandaged Matt's cuts as Sasha kneeled down next to her friend and searched through Arya's bag for the nectar.  
"There," she said, handing her friend the Godly drink and watching as she held it above the son of Hecate's head and allowed for some to trickle into his mouth, her hand shaking slightly. A few moments later, he coughed and sputtered, his eyes flying open. He struggled and fought to sit up, his eyes crazed. He struggled and fought his girlfriend's grip, and she heaved a frustrated (yet relieved) sigh.  
"Orli….Orli, _stop. _Look at me. Orlando." Arya said, and Orlando turned to her. He stopped struggling and he let his head fall back against the floor softly. His eyes closed, his choppy light brown hair plastered to his face with sweat. She lifted her hand and tucked some of his hair behind his ear, kissing him on the forehead softly.  
"What…what _happened_?" Arya asked, her eyes trailing around the disaster of a kitchen. The lighting was hanging sideways and lopsided by one taught wire, the cupboards were pulled out and some were thrown across the floor, the utensils scattered. Bowls were strewn across the room, many broken, and there was a table flipped upside down over to the other side of the kitchen.  
"Some monsters attacked us… one with…it had heads, like rottweilers,and the body of a rottweiler, but the creature had a snake for a tail, I forgot what they're called…"  
"How many heads?" Arya asked suddenly, and Orlando raised an eyebrow.  
"Two."  
"It was an Orthrus." Arya spat immediately, her tone venomous.  
"and there was a scythian dracanae with it, Gods, I hate those things the most."  
"You're lucky it wasn't anything worse." Arya exhaled, relieved. She cupped one hand around his cheek and ran her thumb along the side of his face.  
"But Arya…" Orlando asked, his tone a whisper, "how did they even know we were coming here?"  
Arya shook her head slowly, her eyes glistening with what Sasha assumed to be tears. "I dunno." She whispered, moving to patch up Orlando's many injuries. He grabbed her wrist and before Sasha even had a moment to blink they were kissing, Arya straddling the son of Hecate, whom of which had his arms wrapped securely around her torso. Sasha smirked, rolling her eyes. She turned away quickly, however, and stood, moving away from the couple. She turned to see that Nico was fiddling with the zipper of his jacket (the only non-black item the son of Hades wore) and bit her lip, turning away. Matt was passed out on the floor, and Sasha chuckled under her breath. Poor mortal.  
"Okay, erm…glad you guys are…._happy to see each other,_ and whatnot, but don't you think we need to deal with Orlando's idiot friend dosing off in the corner?" Nico said, interrupting the [awkward] silence and gesturing to Matt, who was curled up into a ball, unconscious, in the corner.  
"Yeah, and I'd kind of like to get out of here as soon as possible. They didn't attack Orlando to kill him, obviously. They wanted to show us that they know where we are, and that they can attack at any time. Let's be prepared when that happens, and not in a..state of _inconvience._"  
Arya stood up, slinging one of Orlando's arms around her neck andfirmly wrapping her hands around his waist to support him.  
"Alright, come on. Let's get out of here."  
"But what about Matt?" Sasha asked, and the daughter of Athena sighed.  
"We can't very well leave him, can we?" Orlando looked at his girlfriend incredulously.  
"Even if we could, we wouldn't!"  
Sasha sighed and walked across the room to Matt. She tried lifting him up by wrapping her arms under his and around his chest to lift him up, but to no avail. Nico's mouth tightnened into a thin line before he quickly crossed the kitchen. He briskly moved Sasha out of the way and, in one quick movement, slung the unconscious form that was Matt over his shoulder and exited the apartment without another word or glance backwards. Sasha turned to Arya and Orlando, incredulous, but the daughter of Athena simply shrugged and escorted herself and her boyfriend outside the apartment after Nico, Sasha trailing behind, irritated.


	5. Chapter 5

"Okay, so we have two suites that are connected by a bathroom on the third floor. Breakfasts are complimentary, but lunches and dinners are charged extra." Nico stated, returning from the desk in the hotel lounge and handing each demigod a room key card. "These work for both rooms, so you'll be able to access both rooms from the outside hallway and the bathroom link."

"Wait, Nico—how are we paying for all this? I mean, don't get me wrong, I don't want to leave anytime soon, but I'm sure the measly amount of emergency money Chiron gave us won't cover a stay at a five-star hotel." Arya said, and she had a point. They had been given 200 dollars by camp and 50 drachma. For some odd reason, Sasha didn't believe that would over a stay at a Hilton Hotel, which is where the demigods were. They were sitting on modern square couches that were colored a mix of grape purple, gray like soot, and a mustard color. There were squared white tables and the ceiling was glass with diamond shaped structures supporting the transparent ceiling. Sasha spotted a bookshelf off to her left and she longed to be able to go peruse the contents of the shelves. Directly ahead was a bar stocked with a large assortment of wines, scotches, whiskeys, rums, etc. Sasha found it amusing that the first thing people saw when they walked in was the bar. She shifted her weight in her seat, Matt's head resting against her shoulder as his hair tickled her neck. Nico grinned slyly, his expression much like the grinning Cheshire cat, and held up a golden credit card between his index and tall finger.  
"My time in the Lotus Hotel and Casino pays off once in awhile."  
Arya was now staring at the plastic object between Nico's fingers in awe. "That's one of those unlimited cash-cards! Annabeth's told me about them."  
The right corner of Nico's mouth twitched back up into a smirk and his obsidian eyes twinkled mischievously.  
"I accidentally took it with me when my sister and I left that place. It's proven useful over the years since.." He slipped the golden piece of plastic into his pocket and turned to Sasha before his eyes rested on the unconscious boy leaning on her. He sneered and turned away to face Orlando, who had healed drastically due to the godly substances he'd ingested and some magic he'd managed to perform on himself. He was lying down, his head resting in Arya's lap as the daughter of Athena ran her hand through his hair absentmindedly.  
"Okay, so Orli and I are obviously sharing a room, and you and Sasha should room together, but then that leaves…" Arya let the sentence hang in the air, and it didn't take a daughter of Athena to tell the demigods what (or, more precisely, _who_), they were having difficulty rooming. It was obvious that Arya wanted to be alone with Orlando, but she didn't want to directly tell Sasha and Nico 'You're stuck with him.' Also, Sasha still didn't mind the mortal boy all too much.  
"He'll room with Nico and I." Sasha supplied, and out of the corner of her eyes she saw Nico shoot her a glare and roll her eyes.  
"Did you even bother asking me if I was okay with it?" He asked.  
"No."  
"Were you _planning _on confirming that I was okay with it later?"  
"Nope."  
Nico threw his hands up in exasperation. "Well, I'm not sharing a bed with him."  
"Fine. I will."  
Nico made a face and turned away. The son of Hades stormed off, slamming the elevator button and entering the first lift that showed up, not even bothering to look back at the others and discuss anything further. Arya sighed as she watched him go.  
"Matt can stay with us." She said reluctantly.  
"No, you two stay together. Nico can get over himself."  
"Sasha, it's not _himself_ that he needs to get over." Orlando intervened, sitting up. Sasha rolled her eyes. "Well he can get over _me _too!"  
Arya snickered and shook her head. "He's not going to get over you until you get over him, sweetie."  
Sasha glared at her best friend, blushing furiously. "You know what? I'm exhausted. I'm heading upstairs." She hooked her arm around Matt's waist and slung the sleeping boy's arm over her shoulder, hauling the two of them up and making her way towards the elevators.  
"You know Nico's up there," Orlando called after her, and Sasha turned to glare at her friends.  
"I'll deal with that problem when I get there."

-  
"You're being ridiculous and stupid!" Nico exclaimed, not caring whether he woke up the sleeping boy on the bed across the room or not. Sasha whirled to face him, her eyes shining with rage.  
"_Me?!_ Me?! _I'm _being ridiculous and stupid? Are you out of your mind?! What about _you?_ You're the one who's acting all…"  
"Acting all what?" He snapped.  
"Acting all like you have the right to _envy _other people I hang out with! Or grow close to! You're not my boyfriend to get all overprotective over me, and even if you were I can protect myself _well enough_. I don't need you acting all pissy and hateful towards me because I'm looking out for _a mortal_. A _mortal_ who I will probably never contact again after this week! A _mortal _who, mind you, is also a friend of Orlando's! And even if he wasn't, it's not Matt's fault he was in the wrong place at the wrong time!" She shouted at the son of Hades. "It's not as if I'm _trying _to piss you off!"

"Then what the Hades _are_ you trying to do, Sasha?! Because you really had me there!"

"I'm _trying_ to get you to realize that I don't like this either but I'm not changing my mind and I don't want you_hating me_ when..." She let the sentence trail off, not needing to finish in order for Nico to understand. _'...when the prophecy is fulfilled.'_ It was still hard for her to understand and cope with the fact that she was a walking dairy product, an expiration date stamped right over her head. She turned away from the son of Hades, and in the dark of the room she heard more than saw him take a tentative step towards her. He placed a hand on her shoulder, but she jerked away.

"I'm so sick of having this conversation over and over again with you, di Angelo." She spat, shoving a pillow at him and exiting the suite, slamming the door behind her. The satisfactory boom that resounded down the hall was enough to assure Sasha that many of the other residents on the floor would be complaining. It was sometime around midnight, and she and Nico had managed to avoid speaking to each other until she had crawled into bed next to Matt. Of course, Nico didn't care that she had put as much distance possible between she and the mortal boy—he still had to go and rage at her. They'd been arguing for the past hour, and now Sasha had wisely left her key card in the suite in her moment of anger, locking herself out of their room. And there was no way she was going to try knocking to have him open up. She had dealt with Nico enough for one night. Fuming, she stormed over to the door to Arya's and Orlando's room. The carpet felt funny under her feet and provided an annoying distraction. She lifted her fist to knock on the door only to have it opened before her knuckles even connected with the wood, an irritated Arya occupying the doorway. Sasha raised her eyebrow quizzically as the daughter of Athena moved to let and said "The building across the street could hear you two, how do you think it was for Orlando and I? We're sharing a wall with you." She said, her aggravation evident. Sasha shrugged and walked past her, entering the room.

"D'you mind if I take one of your beds? It's not like you two were going to be using both of them anyways." Sasha snickered, and she felt a pillow whack her in the side of the head.

"Do whatever the Hades you want, just shut up." Orlando muttered, rolling over on the other bed. Sasha smirked and climbed into the vacant bed, hearing Arya sigh and close the door to the suite, shuffling across the room to climb into bed next to her boyfriend. Sasha felt a pang of envy towards her best friend. She was happy for Arya—she just wished she could be happy for herself, too. It totally sucked, because she really _did _like Nico. She just thought that a hopeless relationship that was doomed from the start wasn't fair for him. She was looking out for_him_. If she'd wanted to be completely selfish then she would have never said no to him in the first place. Yet no one tried seeing things from _her_ point of view. Even her brothers thought she was being irrationally stubborn for no reason, and of course she got nothing but grief from everyone for rejecting the son of Hades, even though they all knew about the prophecy. She was beginning to understand why Percy hated being sent around on quests all the time—it sucked. Big time. And there was no way to separate her personal life from her life as a demigod. The two constantly collided, and at the end of the day Sasha was stuck as a pawn of the Olympians. Just like her brother, just like Nico, just like every other demigod.

And .sucked.

"You could go try and make peace with Nico, you know." Arya suggested from where she lay sideways in her bed. Sasha could see their silhouettes against the shadows—Orlando's arms wrapped around her torso and his head resting in the crook between his girlfriend's neck and shoulder.

Sasha groaned and turned in bed so that she was facing the wall, her back to her friends.

"I've had _enough _of him today," she moaned. There was a silence—a silence Sasha assumed either her best friend or her best friend's boyfriend would fill—that carried on until she realized _'no, they are not going to say anything else.' _She sighed and closed her eyes, willing herself to sleep.

* * *

A.N.: ARGH this took forever to upload. And it's not even like i didn't finish it because I did finish it like a week ago-I just havent been able to find the time to upload it -.-" Sorry and enjoy :)


	6. Chapter 6

They ended up ditching Matt at the hotel early that morning, Orlando leaving him a message telling him it was great to see him and that breakfast ended at 10a.m. There were worse places to wake up than a five-star hotel you didn't have to pay for. They figured he should be up by then.  
Oh, Orlando also pulled this little stunt with his gift to make Matt forget everything weird that had happened during his time with the demigods.  
Sasha and Arya went down to the breakfast buffet and, while no one was looking, shoved as much food as they could into their bags without being spotted.  
When they left the hotel they walked a little ways and ducked down a side road. Nico said that he'd seen on the news that the airport was still closed, so they would be stuck teleporting themselves. However, doing so would most likely tire both Nico and Orlando out majorly, especially over such a long distance, so they would need to rest for a day before beginning their search. They had been hoping to avoid that, they were already lacking time, but they weren't left with another option.  
"Okay. I'll teleport with Orlando. Sasha, Nico, we'll meet you there." Arya said, winking at the daughter of Poseidon. Before either Nico or Sasha were able to protest, Arya had her arms secured around her boyfriend's back, her chin resting on his shoulder. Orlando saluted them with two fingers before there was a loud pop and a flash of light. The couple was off, leaving only empty air and the smell of burning sulfur behind. Sasha turned to Nico, her cheeks tinted pink despite her efforts.  
"Uhm…Nico?"  
"You're going to have to hold onto me in order for this to work." He stated passively, his eyes staring into Sasha's without the smallest trace of emotion. It hurt, even if she realized she completely deserved it. She held out her hand tentatively, and the son of Hades's eyes snapped away, grabbing her hand. He led her over until they were standing in the shadow of one of the buildings and shutting his eyes in concentration as his eyebrow furrowed. Sasha couldn't help but watch, fascinated at how focused he looked before her vision was blurred, black beginning to obscure her view. She shut her eyes and shook her head to clear it, but once her eyes reopened she was greeted by utter darkness. She couldn't remember her first time shadow travelling with Nico all too well, she had been in a half-unconscious state and too in shock to really experience it. A shiver went up her spine and she felt her stomach drop. She suddenly felt entirely alone and afraid, and before she could stop herself, she tightened her grip on Nico's hand. She heard what sounded like him chuckling, but it was distorted and cracked such that it sounded almost sinister. She felt another cold shiver run down her back and into every nerve in her body. She heard more than felt herself gasp and immediately there were arms around her, pulling her into a reassuring hug. Just as Sasha thought she couldn't take it anymore, the shadows faded away revealing a completely different setting than the one they had entered the darkness through. Sasha shivered, the nauseous feeling slowly subsiding as she trembled in Nico's arms. Once she felt the feeling in her gut pass, she released her grip on Nico and he regarded her cautiously, one eyebrow raised.  
"I'm guessing you didn't like it, then?" He asked, amused, and Sasha shook her head numbly.  
"I'm sorry." She croaked, wincing at how her voice cracked. She said it again, clearer and louder. When Nico failed to say anything, she looked up to see him looking past her, a hand gripped on the hilt of his sword. Sasha turned behind her to see a woman with red snakes for hair. She was glaring at them murderously, her snake tongue darting out of her mouth and creating a _hissing_ notice along with the rest of her hair. Sasha avoided looking into the woman's eyes.

"Ah, great. Medusa? Seriously?"

Nico shot her a warning glare before the woman yelled indignantly, and Nico flinched at the horrendous noise.

"Okay, so..not Medusa, not Eurayle, you must be Steno, right?" He guessed, shrugging at the monstrous woman. The beast bared her teeth, which were all sharpened to a point.

"Yessss, puny godling! I am Eurayle, sssissster of Medusssa, murderer of many! I have defeated more men than both my sssisssters combined! At least you have proven to be more humbled than your _ssstupid_ friend there, I shall make your death less torturousss."  
Sasha glared at Nico. "I'm not stupid." She muttered, and he chuckled darkly.  
"Then you can go ahead and stop avoiding looking right at her, she just told you, she's not Medusa."  
"I _saw _the snakes," she snapped, and Nico rolled his eyes.  
"Did you forget that Medusa had two other sisters, also cursed by Athena? One could kill whole armies by screaming and—,"  
"—and _I_ am extremely violent." The monster interrupted proudly. "I have ssslain many more threatening foes than you, weak little godlings!" The monster took a step closer and froze. She stuck her nose up in the air, sniffing, and her fiery eyes glowing with fury as she turned to glower at Sasha, her fangs bared.  
"_You—!_" She snarled, her voice a high-pitched scream, "_you _filthy _seascum! You're the offspring of the one who did this to us!"_  
"Actually, technically, that was my mom, not Poseidon. So come at _me_, ratbreath!" Arya stood behind the serpent-haired beast, her celestial sword shining. Orlando stood next to her with a crossbow in hand. The son of Hecate turned to Nico.  
"You were a block off, dude. Nice job."  
"Shut up." Nico muttered, raising an eyebrow. He was now armed with his pitch black dagger, the tip pointed towards the creature.  
"Hey guys, did you want some coffee? A muffin, maybe? Because, you know, we aren't _busy _or anything." Arya snapped.  
"Actually, I'll take a decaf."  
"Oh, watch yourself di Angelo!"  
"Arya!" Orlando yelled, shoving his girlfriend out of the way as the monster lunged. Steno barely missing Orlando's back as she flew over them, rolling so that she landed crouching on the balls of her feet, her hands against the ground. Sasha heard the daughter of Athena gasp in pain before her head snapped to Nico as she glared daggers at the boy.  
"Dammit, Nico, you see what you do?" Arya yelled, quickly getting back on her feet as Orlando did the same.  
"Can you guys not talk about this right now?!" Sasha snapped, jumping to the side as the creature hissed, leaping directly towards her. Irritated, Sasha willed her pendant to change into her sword, celestial bronze shining. She swung and the creature dodged, jumping back and swiveling around to face Nico, who was ready and waiting with his stygian sword. He narrowly avoided her talons as he jammed his sword into the gorgon's side. He continued to shove in the black weapon until it was hilt-deep. Steno's mouth was agape in pain and shock, her eyes wide as she slowly disintegrated to nothing but metallic dust. Nico spat some of the monster's remains from his mouth and turned to Sasha, smirking.  
"Hey Arya, How about that coffee now?" He called, and Arya cursed at him in Greek.  
"Shut up already, would you?"  
Sasha turned to face the daughter of Athena and Orlando as Nico did the same. Arya was kneeling on the ground, clutching her arm as Orlando muttered under his breath, his eyes closed and brows furrowed in concentration. There was a gash running down her forearm and Orlando's hands were hovering over it as he attempted to heal her wound. After a few moments, he dropped his hands in frustration and sighed.  
"It's no work, I can't heal it. Some Apollo kids could, but unless any of you have any handy…I need to take her back to camp."  
"What? Why?!" Sasha asked, kneeling down next to her friend and examining the wound before bringing out her canteen of nectar. Nico gripped her hand holding the godly liquid and shook his head.  
"It's no use, she's got poison in her system." He then turned to address Orlando. "Will could help, but he might be busy so go to Jonathan."  
"No." Arya snapped, turning to glare at the son of Hades. "How many times must I tell you to shut up, Di Angelo? I'll be fine, I know how to treat this myself, I just need some supplies from a mortal pharmacy, alright? This isn't the first time I've been poisoned." Nico returned the glare heatedly and opened his mouth to speak before Orlando interrupted.  
"It's the first time you've been poisoned with _gorgon _venom, you need to get back to camp."  
"Oh boys, you worry too much." She stood up, gripping Sasha's arm for support. "If we really need the Apollo cabin's help, we can IM them. Now quit your worrying and let's get out of here before more monsters decide to join the teaparty."  
"I thought we were getting coffee." Orlando whined, but Arya just rolled her eyes and slapped him playfully as the demigods stumbled their way around Beirut.


End file.
